Emerson is back in town, with the celebrity seal swimming an astonishing 34 kilometres per day back to the Victoria area, thwarting efforts of fisheries officers to move him on to safer shores up north.
The relocation effort followed several incidents of harassment, including a report of a child being encouraged to crawl into a roped-off area and touch noses with the marine mammal.
乌鸦传媒淭he potential for injuries is massive,乌鸦传媒� said Morgan Van Kirk, a fishery officer with Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO). 乌鸦传媒淓merson乌鸦传媒檚 larger than a black bear, and is a wild animal.乌鸦传媒�
He added that seals carry a lot of communicable diseases as well that can be passed to humans.
乌鸦传媒淪o there乌鸦传媒檚 multiple reasons why that is absolutely not OK.乌鸦传媒�
The DFO would like to keep the name of the Greater Victoria beach where Emerson has taken up residence as much of a secret as they can to limit this type of harassment.
Van Kirk said Emerson is about two years old and is currently moulting, which involves the shedding of skin. The animals generally prefer to be alone and stay on land during the process, just dozing and tossing sand on themselves to keep cool. They also won乌鸦传媒檛 eat during the moult, losing up to 25 per cent of their body weight.
Emerson is back, just days after being relocated to a remote beach. Now is reminding people to keep their distance as elephant seals can carry communicable diseases.
乌鸦传媒� Victoria News (@VictoriaNews)
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As part of the relocation team, Van Kirk said he thought Emerson would be happy in the Barkley Sound Beach the team had plopped him on.
乌鸦传媒淲e delivered him right to a perfect quiet beach up there,乌鸦传媒� Van Kirk said. 乌鸦传媒淎nd we were really hoping that he would stay put for the for the remainder of this moult, but he had other plans.乌鸦传媒�
Van Kirk was not too surprised though. Emerson has already been relocated four or five times.
The seal swimming back in just six days was a bit of a shock, though.
乌鸦传媒淚 don乌鸦传媒檛 think anyone thought he乌鸦传媒檇 get back as quick as he did,乌鸦传媒� Van Kirk said. 乌鸦传媒淭hat definitely speaks to how incredible they are 乌鸦传媒� just the fact that he knew exactly where to go to come back here.乌鸦传媒�
To get Emerson out to Barkley Sound, Van Kirk said it took five fishery officers to coax the animal onto a flatbed trailer for the drive up-Island. No sedatives were used in the process, but they did have marine mammal rescue experts on standby in case anything went wrong.
Though Emerson is a juvenile, he is already about 500 pounds, but is expected to get much larger, up to 4,000 to 5,000 pounds. He will also eventually develop the characteristic elephant seal 乌鸦传媒渢runk乌鸦传媒� as he grows older.
Marine mammals are protected, meaning people can get large fines for disturbing the creatures. Van Kirk said there is no set distance for people to stay away, but if the animal is being disturbed, it is too close.
And any touching 乌鸦传媒� by nose or otherwise 乌鸦传媒� is way outside the limits.
The DFO has some help monitoring the situation from some local volunteers, but if people see any issues with marine mammals being harmed or harassed they are encouraging people to call and report incidents at 800-465-4336.
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